


Legendary - Four Sword

by PKofLight



Series: Linked Universe - Legendary Works [3]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Depiction of mental instability thanks to a sword dividing oneself., Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 13:53:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18700927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PKofLight/pseuds/PKofLight
Summary: In that moment, the colours of the tunic now made sense to them; it made sense how it had been stitched, designed, and divided. In that moment, what they saw was not the Hero of the Four Sword wearing a tunic in four colours. What they saw were four heroes, each with a tunic of a different colour.





	Legendary - Four Sword

 

“Here!” called out the voice of the Hero of the Sky, as he tossed a potion across the heads of several Bokoblin, into the hands of the Hero of Hyrule.

For the better part of the morning, the nine heroes had been locked into a battle of wits, bravery, and vigilance. They had been swarmed upon their arrival into the Hero of the Wilds' Hyrule, which was more populated by Blins than the Hero of the Four Sword was used to. At that point, they had gotten separated among the sea of enemies, just small blond dots in the swarm of greys, browns and blacks.

In the midst of all the chaos, someone had pulled out a bow, and was firing at anything that approached him. Another had taken out a magic rod, and fire was now swirling in the distance. The Hero of the Four Sword was weaving in and out, slashing at the legs of those that he came across, the buzzing in the back of his head being quite loud. It was not enough to form a headache just yet, but it was enough that he wasn't able to ignore it as he normally was.

He swerved when he noticed that a Blin had locked onto him, likely due to his small size and stature compared to the others. He swung his blade, and in that moment, stabbed the creature and had to fight in order to yank it out. He struggled for a moment, not realizing that one of the Blins had snuck up behind him, not before he heard the sound of someone's voice.

“Smithy!”

The Hero of the Four Sword jerked, and swung around. He came face to face with one of the large Blins, who held a club up high. The buzzing in the back of his head increased, enough that he grimaced. In this moment, he had a choice. He either took that hit, or he pull a stupid move.

He didn't have time to dwell on the maybes, he realized, as the sweat poured down his brow. He didn't have time to dwell on secrets that he had been sitting on, on what the others would think of it. In that moment, it was either divide, or suffer a concussion and divide anyway on accident. In that moment, the others saw the Hero of the Four Sword, shining brightly where he stood, and in that moment, where he had stood not a second before, now four boys now stood, divided by the colours of the tunic they had gotten used to.

In that moment, the colours of the tunic now made sense to them; it made sense how it had been stitched, designed, and divided. In that moment, what they saw was not the Hero of the Four Sword wearing a tunic in four colours. What they saw were four heroes, each with a tunic of a different colour.

The four different Heroes of the Four Sword immediately mobilized, and went into formation, swiftly attacking the offending Blin with precise strikes and tactics. They yelled out different ideas, and acted upon them just as quickly as they moved and swerved among the different creatures around them. The other Heroes blinked for a few moments, then returned to their own battles, choosing not to dwell on it.

They had other priorities, they had all reasoned, as the Blins closed on them. They had other matters to take care of first, as they worked on thinning out the forces around them.

The battle finally ended several minutes after the Hero of the Four Sword had divided with the power of his blade. Once the final Blin had been struck, everyone took a moment to catch their breath, some of the Heroes falling to sit on the ground. The Hero of Time turned to consider their surroundings, before turning to the Hero of the Wilds.

“Champion, you know the way around here more than we do. We need a place to rest. A safe place,” the Hero of Time ordered. At his words, everyone looked up, save for the four different pieces of the Hero of the Four Sword, who were too busy staring at the ground. The Hero of Time turned to consider them. “... A quiet place.”

“We're fine,” snapped the blue Hero of the Four Sword. “Don't worry about us.”

“It just feels weird for the first little bit, that's all,” the red one quietly added. “We'll adapt, and then we'll go back.” He scrunched up his face, and held his sword close. “... Um. But...”

The green one shakily stepped up, noticeable enough that he got weird looks from from all the others. “We can explain. I... I know this must be really weird.”

“'Must be'?” remarked the purple one. “Green, we never told them _for a reason_.”

The blue one huffed now. “And _I_ told you we _should_ have, if you'll remember! But _nooooo_ , you took Vio's side!”

“No arguing!” piped the red one. “ _Please_!”

The others all glanced between the different, arguing boys, before the Hero of Legend gave out a loud scoff. “Well, this is all very entertaining, but we can't stay here. The old man's right. We have to find somewhere safe.”

“I know just the place,” chimed the Hero of the Wilds, as he held up his Sheikah Slate and showed them a place on the map. “Thankfully, we're actually by Hateno Village. My house is there. We can rest up, stay as long as we need...”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” began the Hero of Warriors.

The others turned to the four forms of the Hero of the Four Sword. They expected to see four expectant faces of agreement. What they saw was one, clutching the Four Sword as if it were a lifeline, a pained, horrific expression on his face. It was one they had never seen on his face before, and not one they wanted to see again.

The Hero of Twilight carefully stepped up, and put a hand to his shoulder. “... Smithy. Are you alright...?”

The Hero of the Four Sword said nothing.

“Come on,” added the Hero of Hyrule. “Talk to us, Master Smithy. We need to know you're okay before we move.”

The silence that was the Hero of the Four Sword's response was deafening. Unsure of what to do, the Hero of the Wilds turned to the Hero of Time with a concerned expression. The Hero of Legend sighed and put a hand to the bridge of his nose. The Hero of the Sky sighed and knelt down before the quiet Hero, trying to look him in the eye. Try as he might, what he was met was a thousand yard stare that did not seem to be acknowledging him.

“Why... Why isn't he saying anything...?” muttered the Hero of Wind. “Isn't... Isn't he going to say something?”

The Hero of Warriors turned away from their silent companion to consider the youngest for a moment. “He might not be able to. The red one said that it can sometimes take awhile after they use the magic. He might have just forced it too soon.”

“I guess that's a good point,” commented the Hero of Legend. “'We'll adapt and then we'll go back', that's what he said.” He moved his arms into a crossed position, and looked up at the Hero of Time. “So, uh. We got a problem, old man, and it's Master Smithy. What do we do?”

The unspoken _we might not be able to move him_ hung over all their shoulders, especially the Hero of Time's.

In response, the Hero of Time examined their surroundings. “... Clean up. I guess we're staying here. We'll go to the Champion's home tomorrow if the Smithy is in good condition. We'll give him time.”

The Hero of the Sky swallowed and turned to the littlest Hero. “... And... And if he's still like this...?”

“We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

With a heavy weight on their backs, and a dark cloud hovering over the tension, the group moved to clean up the Blins and the field. The Hero of the Sky muttered a gentle apology to the shell-shocked Hero of the Four Sword as he moved him into a kneeling position against a log offered by the Hero of Hyrule. The Blins were gathered into a pile by the Hero of Warriors and the Hero of the Wilds, and promptly set on fire by the Hero of Legend. The Hero of Twilight and the Hero of Time set up beds.

The Hero of Wind, however, stood there in the midst of the others cleaning up around him, and stared at the motionless body of his friend.

There was a quiet moment, as the others took notice of their youngest, just standing and staring. They shared looks for a moment, when finally the Hero of Warriors gave a small sigh, and approached him. He gently put a hand to the sailor's shoulder, giving him a smile when the boy looked up at him. A moment passed between them.

The Hero of Wind's eyes began to brim with tears. “What do we do? We can't just... leave him like this. It's not fair.”

“I know,” said the Hero of Warriors. “But we have to give him time. He'll need it.”

“But-”

“Don't worry, Master Pirate.” Everyone turned to see the Hero of the Sky giving the boy a soft smile from next to the frozen Hero of the Four Sword. “I will look after him. He'll be fine.” He turned his attention back to his current ward, putting a blanket around his shoulders.

The expression on the boy's face was still twisted in that horrified formation, but at least he was breathing. Just that fact alone relieved some of the tension in the shoulders of the other heroes, as they moved to relax and take care of themselves. Through the course of the night, they bandaged injuries, ate, drank, and told stories around a fire. They attempted to stir the Hero of the Four Sword, mostly to get him to eat, but when that failed, they simply tended to his wounds and laid him down on a bedroll.

Eventually in the night, they noticed he had slipped away into a slumber.

The Hero of the Wind refused to sleep away from him, and moved his bedroll next to his friend's. He was soon joined by the Hero of the Sky and the Hero of Warriors, as they clustered around him as well. In truth, eventually, everyone clustered around him in a protective field of brothers and close allies. The Hero of the Wind sniffed and squished himself between the Heroes of the Four Sword and Warriors.

By the time the fire had died out, they had all fallen asleep, surrounding their hurt friend and brother, and holding him close and warm. When he awoke in the dead of night, he found himself staring out at the expanse of the sky. A pure, white moon glared back at him, as he blinked in confusion.

The buzzing in his head at yet to cease. It never ceased, really, but usually he could ignore it to some degree. It never left him, and would likely remain until the day that he died. It had been a part of him since the day he had first divided – a side effect, he imagined, of separating himself into four. His personality had folded inward on itself, dividing and separating into four separate beings. He had fallen apart at the seams, and was remade and reborn into Green, Red, Blue and Vio.

And from that day, he had changed forever. He would never be the same again. Not as he was when he used to take Princess Zelda to festivals in their home town.

“ _Aren't you wishing we said something, now?_ ” spoke an angry voice in his head, and he gave a mental groan as the buzzing got louder. “ _We should have told them instead of wishing to keep it yourself. We trusted it with Zelda, why not trust them?_ ”

“ _It's a dangerous skill, and you know it, Green,_ ” said another, this one cool and stoic. “ _To keep it to ourselves is to keep us safe._ ”

“ _But now they may be mad at us!_ ” added a quiet, soft voice. “ _Now they may never trust us again! I don't want that._ ”

“ _We're alive,_ ” stated a stubborn one now, this one the closest to how he used to be. The original model, he supposed. “ _There's that, and I think I feel Master Pirate crammed into our side._ ”

“ _I think I hear him, too. Guy always snores so loud,_ ” scoffed the angry tone. Blue.

“ _That's not Master Pirate's snores. That's Champion's. He must be around somewhere,_ ” said the cool voice. Vio.

And finally, Red. “ _They must have been so worried when we blanked. We should have warned them._ ”

“... Yeah,” said the Hero of the Four Sword aloud. “... Should've.” He reached out and stretched out his arms, trying to gauge what had happened after they had blanked. He peered around, noticing that not only was the Hero of the Wind leaning against him in his sleep, but the others had all crowded around. Even the Hero of Legend was fast asleep near them - a rare event indeed to have him so near - with an open book sprawled across his lap.

From his movement, he had stirred awake the young sailor, as he gave a little whimper in his sleep and went to rub an eye. “... Captain..?”

How long had he been out that the boy was already under the belief he was not of clear mind...? “... Not quite. Sorry to wake you.”

Just from hearing his voice, the Hero of the Wind had bolted upright, immediately in a sitting position to look him clear in the face. “Master Smithy...! We were all so scared... Are you feeling better now? You wouldn't talk to us... you wouldn't even move...” The boy's voice was low, so as to not wake any of the others, but the Hero of the Four Sword could hear him just fine.

“... Everything's going to be okay,” he found himself saying without even thinking it. He could hear the voice of Blue, muttering “ _Liar._ ” He elected to ignore it. “I'm sorry for scaring you.”

The Hero of the Wind shook his head. Tears were brimming in his eyes, and he tried to hold back a sob. “Don't lie to me, Master Smithy. You're lying. You're just trying to brush it off, like all the others do when they're hurt.” He looked down at his hands in his lap, body racking from holding back sobs. “Don't lie to me. Are... are you okay?”

The sight of his friend shaking from the tears was enough to rattle the Hero of the Four Sword's guilt. “... Now, now, Master Pirate. There... there isn't a reason to cry, okay?” The boy was still tearing up. That wasn't good. “Stop crying. Just... stop it.” He sat up, and reached out to touch the Hero of the Wind's shoulder. “... The Four Sword. Do you know what it's done to me? From the moment I used the sword's power for the first time?”

“Don't we all change after all that, though...?”  
  
“I guess that's true. But how many of us have been divided between four people, before?” The Hero of the Four Sword looked away, at the offending sword in question. “When I first used it, I found myself... broken. Shattered into four pieces, each bearing a part of me that I now lacked. And now... I'm not completely back together, and I never will be.”

“So the... the sword broke you, then?” asked the Hero of the Wind, looking at his friend in confusion. “... You were hurt by it, and still get hurt when... you do 'that', and separate like that?”

“They're both my closest companions, and yet... open wounds,” he found himself summarizing. “Blaring reminders of what I was, or what I could have been, and yet...” He gave an empty laugh. “I wouldn't be who I am without them.”

“... So... what happened back here? When you reformed and you wouldn't talk to us...?”

“My body was in shock.” It was the best way to describe the feeling of having oneself destroyed and then rebuilt in such a short period of time. “It happens when the magic is used, sometimes.”

The Hero of the Wind scoffed, and then he reached out to slam the Hero of the Four Sword back into the ground, laying down on the bedrolls once more. “Well, you need some more sleep. You'll have to get some extra breakfast in the morning, though. You missed dinner.”

That explained the empty feeling in his stomach. “I'm sure I'll make do.”

With that, and now feeling much better, the Hero of the Wind laid back down and crammed himself into the Hero of the Four Sword's side. “Good night, Master Smithy. I'm glad you're feeling better.”

The Hero of the Four Sword grew quiet as he looked back up at the night sky. He couldn't help but think about what the others felt about all of this. The Hero of the Wind didn't seem to mind. He seemed more relieved that he knew, now. In fact, a weight had come off of the Hero's shoulders simply for admitting it to someone.

“ _This isn't how I wanted to spend my life,_ ” he thought to the others. “ _Broken up like this. Divided like this... You guys buzzing in our head. But... Is it weird that I sometimes find it calming?_ ”

“ _You're staring out at the vast unknown, the stars, and the open sky,_ ” Vio pointed out. “ _You're pondering our very existence. You're not alone. You never were._ ”

“ _How long are you going to keep this up?_ ” asked Blue. “ _You told the Pirate. You have to tell the others._ ”

“ _Are you going to introduce us?_ ” asked Red.

Green felt a smile to his face as he moved to a curled up position, nestled deep in the formation of other sleeping Links like himself. Truth be told, he hadn't considered himself a “Link” for a long time. He was now, and always would be, “Green” in his own mind.

And, in terms of Red's question, he had to wonder about that. They'd already met them so to speak, but Red had a point. It was only for a brief moment and they had never introduced themselves. And, just telling the Hero of the Winds the specifics wasn't enough. “ _... Stories are just that, aren't they? Stories. I'll have to. Maybe once we've rested._ ”

With a smile, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was surrounded by his brothers, still, and in a tangled, cuddled mess. He would tell them the truth after breakfast, he decided, as he ate his fill of the food that the Hero of the Wilds offered him. Once he had finished, he put his cup down on the ground, and stood up, holding the Four Sword close as he looked his brothers in the eyes.

“Everyone?” he began. “I need to tell you about the Four Sword... and what it's done to me.”

_To us._


End file.
